Whether you’re a traveler, a student or just a curious world citizen, learning about history is enriching on both an intellectual and a personal level. One of the easiest and most interesting ways to brush up on your history knowledge is through blogs. There are a lot of untrustworthy sites out there, but if you know where to look, you can discover a treasure trove of sources to help you increase your knowledge and understanding of the world around (and behind) you.

Here are ten of the best history blogs on the internet:

Image courtesy of The Fairy Tale Traveler.

1. The Fairytale Traveler

Infused with an atmosphere of mystical whimsy, The Fairytale Traveler specializes in histories of the unusual, the unknown and the supernatural. Read about New Orleans’ Voodoo history, Medieval kings and castles or the history of moonshine in the Smoky Mountains.

Image courtesy of Crash Course.

2. Crash Course

Having watched every history video Crash Course has to offer, I can testify that their run-through of major events in US and World History is thorough and flat-out fascinating. Each episode is presented on YouTube in the form of fifteen-minute vlogs, narrated by author John Green and illustrated with informative graphics. Particular highlights are World War II viewed from a food resources perspective, the American Sixties and the French Revolution.

3. Marie Antoinette’s Gossip Guide to the Eighteenth Century

The title may seem tongue-in-cheek, and Marie Antoinette’s Gossip Guide to the Eighteenth Century is certainly a lavishly playful perspective on the luxe of the upper-class world of the 18th century. If you’re interested in historical fashion, this is the blog for you. But it’s also an excellent site for learning about Marie Antoinette’s remarkable life and what it was like to be a lady in the age of Louis XVI.

Image courtesy of If It Happened Yesterday, It’s History.

4. If It Happened Yesterday, It’s History

If It Happened Yesterday, It’s History offers up a range of fascinating articles on historical events ranging from the infamous Christmas truce of 1914 to the practices of Aztec human sacrifice. The focus is largely on warfare and military history, but there’s plenty of other cultural history in there too.

Image courtesy of Women of History.

5. Women of History

Women have long been neglected in the writing of history. The blog Women of History seeks to rectify that, focusing on the contributions of a wide range of women to historical events. Read about powerful individuals, historical attitudes towards women and feminine customs through the ages.

Image courtesy of Ancient Foods.

6. Ancient Foods

Of particular interest to us Epicurious travelers, Ancient Foods is a history blog focused on the background of food and drink. Learn about the discovery of bones revealing how ancient peoples ate, or about all manner of food preparation, hunting and dining customs revealed through archaeology.

Image courtesy of Mental Floss.

7. Mental Floss

Fascinated by the weird and the wonderful, Mental Floss is one of the most useful – and dangerous – history-related procrastination tools out there. Go down the rabbit hole and spend hours learning about scientific, political and cultural history through articles, listicles and videos. Their pieces on etymology are always brilliant, too.

Image courtesy of Two Nerdy History Girls.

8. Two Nerdy History Girls

Who better to run a history blog than a historical romance author and a historical novelist? Loretta and Susan of Two Nerdy History Girls combine their love of the literary and the historical in this fascinating blog. They write about snippets of history, precious and found items and visits to historical sites.

Image courtesy of Stuff You Missed in History Class.

9. Stuff You Missed in History Class

If you’re looking for a different format to shake up your history blog consumption, or something to listen to while driving, a podcast may be the perfect solution. And when it comes to history podcasts, there’s nothing like Stuff You Missed in History Class. Episodes include histories of China’s Cultural Revolution, Stonehenge and Spam. Yes, spam. There’s a standard written blog to accompany it, too.

Image courtesy of Victorian Paris.

10. Victorian Paris

Lovers of the City of Light, especially in the Victorian era, must head to Victorian Paris, where novelist Iva Polansky shares her in-depth research on 19th-century Paris. Read about the literature, fashion, architecture and social norms of this fascinating historical period.

What are your favorite history blogs? Please share in the comments below.

Gemma King

Coffee Connoisseur Columnist

Gemma King is an Australian francophile living between Paris, Melbourne and Richmond Virginia. A PhD student in French cinema at Melbourne Uni and the Sorbonne, she's also an eternal nomad, a film buff, a French lecturer, a coffee reviewer, an English teacher and a travel writer. As la muséophile, she spends her Sundays exploring and reviewing the lesser-known museums of Paris at www.lesmuseesdeparis.com.

I’ve been reading MentalFloss (and watching their youtube videos) for over a year now and i agree that it’s a great site to learn from. Stuff you missed in history class looks interesting and i’m definitely going to keep up with their podcast

I regularly use Crash Course as enrichment in my 8th grade history class. Students learn so much from the different episodes and it adds another perspective to our class. I enjoyed browsing the “Stuff You Missed In History Class” blog and look forward to implementing it in my class.

Thank you for the list. Crash Course if awesome for learning history. They inspired me to create my own History blog series. People need an interesting and entertaining way to learn history, and it seems that all of these sites provide just that. Not everyone want to loom over boring textbooks, I know i would have paid much more attention in school if these kind of blogs were around then!